NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 219 



sp. ? at St. Martin Vesubie, Alpes-Maritimes. This locality is just 3300 

 feet above sea-level, and it is interesting to note that this is almost the 

 extreme limit of its distribution in the mountains, though I have seen it 

 in a spot, near this latter place, which is nearly 4000 feet in elevation. 

 And here, perhaps, I may be allowed to ask, have any readers of the 

 * Entomologist,' engaged in rearing pupae, ever noticed the apparent 

 tendency of many species bred from hybernating chrysalids to emerge in a 

 crumpled, or otherwise deformed state? I do not remember to have ever 

 seen the fact referred to. It also appears to me that pupae which pass the 

 winter months, require a much greater amount of attention (propor- 

 tionately) to make them yield images in good condition, than those spring 

 or summer ones which hatch out in a few weeks' time. Char axes jasius, L. 

 (a female), came out in my puparium on May 1st, from a caterpillar, among 

 others, received from Hyeres. The pupa from which it emerged was 

 formed on March 14th last. I may add that I continue to breed speci- 

 mens of jasius in my cages at the time of writing. Pterogon proserpina, 

 Pall. {^::^ceiiothercB, Schiff.). one example in ray puparium on May 3rd 

 last, from a hybernating chrysalis bred last autumn in the Alps, to the 

 north of Nice ; and as I still have two more pupae left, I hope to get further 

 specimens. — F. Bromilow ; Nice, France, May JiQ, 1893. 



Prolonged pkriod of emergence of larv^ of Obgtia antiqua. — 

 On Sept. 18th, 1893, I found a web of the above moth, the ova laid, the 

 female being still present and alive. Some few, about half a dozen out- 

 lying ova, hatched in about three weeks afterwards. The main lot, 

 however, did not begin to hatch till March 20th, 1893, since which time 

 they have been coming out in batches of a few at a time, with intervals of 

 ten days or a fortnight between the batches ; the last hatched a fortnight 

 ago, and many eggs still remain unhatched. Newman gives ten weeks as 

 the period of emergence, but if all these eggs prove fertile, and keep on 

 hatching as they have done hitherto, there will be quite ten months 

 between the emergence of the first and last larva. — N. F. Searancke ; 

 Mitcheldeau, Gloucester, June 18, 1893. 



Larv^ of Vanessa io feeding on Hop. — On June 17th I found 

 about twenty larvae of F. io feeding on the common hop {Humulus lupulus). 

 Never having seen or heard of this caterpillar feeding on any plant other 

 than Urtica dioica, I think it worth while to record the fact. — N. F. 

 Searancke; Mitcheldean, Gloucester, June 18, 1893. 



Hybernated Vanessa antiopa with yellow borders. — On March 

 30th last I captured, about ten miles from Wiesbaden, a fine hybernated 

 specimen of Vanessa antiopa with yellow-bordered wings. Several hyber- 

 nated specimens have been taken here, but all, with this one exception, 

 had white borders. — E. A. Molesworth ; Villa Allblick, Bachmayer- 

 strasse 10, Wiesbaden, Germany. 



Note on Abraxas grossulariata. — A friend of mine, writing to me 

 from Hertfordshire on the 10th of June, called my attention to the fact 

 that the larvae of J. grossulariata had during this season deserted their 

 usual food, i. e., gooseberry, for a particular species of evergreen. Since 

 the receipt of this letter I have made several enquiries from men owning 

 fruit-gardens. One informs me that last year the larvae did commence 

 eating some of his evergreen shrubs, but the damage was trifling compared to 



